(TIME) April 20, also known as “420,” is a day popular with many marijuanasmokers who see it as a “national holiday” of sorts and celebrate by getting high. The term “420” originated in the 1970s with a group of California high schoolers who would regularly meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke weed.

The Post reported a 40 percent increase in the number of all drivers, impaired or otherwise, involved in fatal crashes in Colorado between 2013 and 2016. That’s why the Colorado State Patrol posts fatality numbers on electronic signs over the highways.
“Increasingly potent levels of marijuana were found in positive-testing drivers who died in crashes in Front Range counties, according to coroner data since 2013 compiled by The Denver Post. Nearly a dozen in 2016 had levels five times the amount allowed by law, and one was at 22 times the limit. Levels were not as elevated in earlier years,” The Post explained.
All drivers in marijuana-related crashes who survived last year tested at levels indicating use within a few hours of the tests.
The Post found fatal crashes involving drivers under the influence of alcohol grew 17 percent from 2013 to 2015. Figures for 2016 were not available. Drivers testing positive for pot during that span grew by 145 percent, and “prevalence of testing drivers for marijuana use did not change appreciably, federal fatal-crash data show.”

The number of drivers involved in fatal crashes in Colorado who tested positive for marijuana has risen sharply each year since 2013, more than doubling in that time, federal and state data show. A Denver Post analysis of the data and coroner reports provides the most comprehensive look yet into whether roads in the state have become more dangerous since the drug’s legalization.

“The facts of the accident included Mr. Siegler being the driver of a vehicle while under the influence of marijuana,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a press release. “He subsequently crossed the center lane of travel striking another oncoming vehicle.
Siegler was arrested at his home in rural Rochester and booked into the Thurston County Jail.
Siegler referenced the crash and apparent remorse in a June 30 post on his Facebook page, saying he wanted to pay his respects and that “she deserved better than what happened.”
“I swear I'll live my life for you and your family,” he wrote. “I owe it to you. I'm so sorry. I hope to see you one day in heaven, no matter how much I don't deserve it right now, I just hope you can forgive me. I'm sorry in a way I could never describe. I may not have known you. But I love you and all that you've taught me in this short amount of time.”

Drug users now cause almost as many traffic deaths in Michigan as drunken drivers, a trend police blame on prescription drugs, the opioid epidemic and the easy availability of marijuana, medical and otherwise.Over the past decade, fatal drunken-driving crashes across the state are down 36%, while those caused by people impaired by drugs have risen 263%.

“His consistent use of marijuana affected his brain structure,” Gomez-Mallada said. But Cox ruled: “The court finds there is little possibility of rehabilitation. The defendant is a danger.” Marshall’s accomplice, Henry, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is scheduled for sentencing in July.

Kirk’s children are seeking damages for negligence, failure to warn, wrongful death, deceptive trade, strict liability, breach of implied warranty, misrepresentation and consumer law violations. They are represented by Gregory Gold, of Greenwood Village.
The effects of marijuana can be much more powerful when it is eaten rather than smoked. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, on a visit to Colorado, wrote a much-cited column about the misery induced by eating marijuana candy.

The driver, 18-year-old Darion Wheeler died from head and chest trauma. Coroner Stratmoen released toxicology results and determined Wheeler had “Cannabis by-product levels that were higher than 10 times the limit that is considered impaired driving by studies from the National institutes of Health and the Highway Traffic Safety Administration.”

In a recent case in Massachusetts, 15-year-old Mathew Borges has been charged with first-degree murder in the decapitation death of a classmate. But you have to read deep into the articles about the case to discover a motive. Police said he told them that he and his victim, Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino, went away together to “smoke marijuana.”
Don’t expect our liberal, pro-drug media to draw the obvious connections between marijuana, psychosis and violence.

In hopes of protecting others from their daughter’s fate, her parents last year persuaded Florida Rep. Dave Kerner, D-Lake Worth, to propose a bill that would allow law enforcement to charge people with additional crimes if they were under the influence of marijuana when involved in a crash in which someone was seriously hurt.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety analyzed cannabis use by drivers in one of those states, Washington, and found that the proportion of drivers involved in fatal crashes who had recently used marijuana more than doubled after Washington legalized the drug for recreational use. In addition, there’s currently no easy way to test whether a driver is impaired by marijuana: Unlike alcohol, it can’t be determined by breath or blood tests.

An FDNY battalion chief was killed and several others — including six police officers and nine other firefighters — were injured when a marijuana-growing operation inside a Bronx house exploded early Tuesday, officials and sources said.

The driver involved in the crash that killed a Massachusetts state trooper in March had visited a medical marijuana dispensary and had a half-burnt marijuana cigarette in his car, authorities said Wednesday.

Fatal driving accidents have risen 122 percent between 2010 and 2014, according to the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission.

The science is clear and unambiguous—pot is a dangerous substance. It is not like alcohol at all. There is a reason it is classified as a Schedule I controlled dangerous substance, right along with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. The American Medical Association, the American Lung Association, and other reputable doctors and scientists all reject legalization.

The percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes who recently used marijuana more than doubled from eight to 17 percent between 2013 and 2014.
One in six drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2014 had recently used marijuana, which is the most recent data available.
“The significant increase in fatal crashes involving marijuana is alarming,” said Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “Washington serves as an eye-opening case study for what other states may experience with road safety after legalizing the drug.”

Naomi Pomerance loved music and dance. And judging by the 500 people who turned out for her funeral, the 16-year-old Wellington girl was herself much beloved.
Naomi was killed March 28 when the Honda Rukus scooter on which she was a passenger ran a red light and T-boned a Toyota 4Runner, according to a police report.

Medina's back seat passenger, Daniela Benavides San Miguel, 18, was killed in the crash. Benavides San Miguel had graduated from Gulliver Preparatory last spring and was a freshman at Pepperdine University in California.
A passenger in the front seat, Mathew Saldana, 17, was injured in the crash. Medina and Saldana were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center with head injuries.
According to a court document, toxicology reports showed that Medina tested positive for marijuana.

According to Kevin Merill, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officer in charge in Denver, "more and more criminals are moving to Colorado to exploit our drug laws, sell marijuana through the U.S. and line their pockets with drug money."
The Colorado experience is certainly troubling and has not been the panacea purported by legalization advocates.
In 2010, medical marijuana was legalized in Colorado. In 2012, it legalized marijuana and in 2014 retail businesses began selling it to anyone 21 years or older. The consequences? In 2014, there was a 32 percent increase in marijuana related traffic deaths and since 2010 the number has increased by 92 percent.

A quadrupling in the use of prescription drugs since 1999, and legalization of marijuana use in some states are cited among the reasons drug use has become an increasing threat to roadway safety, according to a report released today by the Governors Highway Safety Association, an organization of state highway safety officers.

The impact of those changes can be seen not just in marijuana sales, but also in lives lost and harmed. In 2014, the report notes, there was a 32 percent increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths in Colorado compared with 2013. Marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 92 percent from 2010 to 2014.
In contrast, the increase in all traffic deaths during that time period was just 8 percent. Had it not been for marijuana-related traffic deaths, the state would have experienced adecline in traffic fatalities.
There's reason to think this problem won't go away soon. According to the report, an estimated 485,000 Colorado adults regularly use marijuana. Adults who consume marijuana almost daily make up the top 21.8 percent of that population — but they account for 66.9 percent of the demand for marijuana.

Data released Tuesday indicate that the number of Washington drivers involved in deadly crashes who tested positive for active marijuana doubled from 2013 to 2014 - the first year of legal marijuana sales in the state.

“We have seen marijuana involvement in fatal crashes remain steady over the years, and then it just spiked in 2014,” said Dr. Staci Hoff, WTSC Data and Research Director.
From 2010-2014, nearly 60 percent of drivers involved in fatal collisions were tested for drugs. Among these tested drivers, approximately 20 percent (349 drivers) were positive for marijuana.
From 2008 through 2014, more than 1,100 people died in impaired collisions in Washington. Impaired driving is involved in nearly half of all traffic deaths and more than 20 percent of serious injury collisions. The highest percentage of these deaths occurs during the summer months.

People who drive within three hours of smoking marijuana are at nearly twice the risk of being in an accident that leads to serious injury or death, compared with sober drivers, according to a new review of the research.
While driving stoned is clearly risky — and combining marijuana with alcohol is even more dangerous — drunk driving remains a bigger hazard on the road. Driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 — the legal limit — nearly triples the risk of crashing; a blood alcohol concentration of .10 almost quintuples it. Although drunk driving deaths have dropped by more than half since 1982, they still represent about one-third of all auto fatalities and kill about 11,000 people annually.

Prosecutors said McKay, 17, was going 75 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone at 3 a.m. on Sunday when he lost control of his car killing Luther Wiggins-Stoudemire, 18, Kassidy Clark, 16, and Jenna Farley, 14.
Prosecutors also said McKay admitted smoking marijuana a little more than an hour before the crash.

Party goers saw the driver, who had a learner’s permit, drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana at the house late into the night before, said a search warrant issued to gather evidence as part of an investigation into possible charges of DUI manslaughter, possession of marijuana, possession of alcohol under 21 years old and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Pedro Moreno, 25, is charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence in the crash about 5:35 a.m. Wednesday at the Loomis ramp on northbound Interstate 55. Killed was his brother, Enrique Moreno, 28, who lived with Pedro Moreno

Russell admitted he had smoked marijuana at lunch and again as he drove to pick up his children in Brodhead, the criminal complaint indicates.“All I did was smoke a bowl of marijuana. It's not like I am high,” Russell is quoted as saying in the criminal complaint.“The defendant did not seem to understand that smoking marijuana and driving were illegal,” the complaint states

A teen accused of killing 16-year-old Broomfield High School student Chad Britton in a November car accident near the school was driving under the influence of marijuana, according to police.
He got behind the wheel of his car after smoking weed, even though a friend tried to persuade him not to drive, police officers testified at a preliminary hearing Tuesday.
The 17-year-old driver, who authorities have not identified because he is a minor, is accused of killing Britton by hitting him with the car. The teen is suspected of smoking marijuana before the crash, and had only had his drivers license for six days, police testified.

They reported that Colorado underwent a significant increase in the proportion of drivers in a fatal motor vehicle crash who were marijuana-positive after the commercialization of medical marijuana in the middle of 2009. The increase in Colorado was significantly greater compared to the 34 non-medical marijuana states from mid-2009 to 2011.

Acute cannabis consumption is associated with an increased risk of a motor vehicle crash, especially for fatal collisions. This information could be used as the basis for campaigns against drug impaired driving, developing regional or national policies to control acute drug use while driving, and raising public awareness.